Cajun Corner - Vol. 3, No. 43

Cajun Corner – Vol. 3, No. 43 – October 28, 2011

Bon Jour!  Welcome to Cajun Stitchery’s weekly email and welcome to our family.

ΘΘΘΘΘ

Don’t forget to visit our blog at www.cajunstitchery.blogspot.com, and www.cajunstitchery.etsy.com often.   We are also on Twitter and Facebook. 

Visit our on-line catalogs at:

http://www.imprintit.biz/cgi-bin/cobrand/site.w?location=olc/catalog-home.w&top=catalog&frasmes=no&target=main&sponsor=000699

and www.companycasuals.com/cajunstitchery.

We had several orders last week for bags with the Cajun saying and Teaching is a Work of Heart.  All orders have been filled and shipped.

Last Monday I met my friend from MADD for lunch at The Coffee House to give her the table runner that I made.  As we were standing at the counter placing our order, we were commenting on the beautiful antique photographs on the wall of a turn of the century wedding.  The photos were family photos of the owner.  My friend and I were both commenting on our own weddings and each of us wished we had more and better photographs.  The young lady who was waiting on us mentioned that she is getting married on November 6^th.  My friend and I clicked into motherly mode and began asking questions.  The young waitress is from a small town outside of Boston and her family cannot attend the wedding.  She has been living with her husband-to-be for 7 years and they have decided to get married in their little church in Foley, Alabama.  They have nothing to speak of and are living with her in-laws to be.  We asked if she had a wedding gown and she said, no, they are just going to stay after church that day and get married.  She was still saving her money to get him a wedding band.  At that point, we began serious meddling.  We didn’t want her to be our age and regretting not having enough pictures or having the wedding of her dreams.  We began speculating that certainly someone has a wedding gown they could loan her.  You only wear those gowns once.

Thus began the search.  When I got home, I put out a message on Facebook with my WBL group about the situation and that we are looking for a wedding gown in a size 6-8 for this young lady.  Before the day was out, my sweet peep and business consultant contacted me and was having her wedding gown shipped here from her mother for the bride. 

The Facebook message took on a life of its own and I put the message out for all of my Facebook friends.  Another friend messaged that WBL has a Pay it Forward Wedding Program where girls put all of their wedding décor and the like in the program and whoever needs it can help themselves.  Down the road they help someone else.

We had offers of deals on wedding bands and all sorts of things.  My friend got in touch with the pastor of the church who said that the congregation was planning a surprise reception after the wedding.

Another friend, a hairdresser, has both the bride and groom coming in that morning to have her hair done and he gets a hair cut.

It seemed like everything was falling into place but if the bride is going to wear this gorgeous gown (we now have the gown), then we don’t want the groom showing up in jeans.  So, we got some measurements from the bride for the groom’s size and began trying to find a tux for him.  I must say that the generosity was overwhelming.  No one seemed to have his size in a tux.  Facebook friends began saying that if we could get a deal from one of the local tuxedo rentals, then whoever would like, could call the tuxedo rental company and charge whatever amount they could on their credit cards for this young man’s tux.  The problem with that offer is that you don’t know how much of a bill will be remaining for the groom to pay. 

Today, I have spoken with both the bride and groom.  I should be meeting with her today to give her the gown.  They keep telling me that he is more of a suit jacket and jeans guy.  That simply will not do; not with this gown. 

To top off the generosity, a dear friend of mine who is literally at her ailing mother’s bedside in Idaho, called to say she knows the owner of a local tuxedo rental store and is going to place a call and have the owner call me to make the arrangements for the tux.  My friend, who owns an entertainment/DJ business, told me that if she was here, she would provide the music and entertainment.

I love people.  Given an opportunity, people always rise to the occasion.  This week’s kindness and generosity has been pretty overwhelming.

As if that wasn’t enough human kindness for one week, there was more.  I knew that one of our neighborhood friends was having a birthday this week.  His wife emailed me and wanted to give him a surprise party, but, as it turned out, another neighbor had a birthday this week, too.  The plan was that we would get the neighborhood together at my house and hide them in the back yard.  When our birthday boy walks by (via a devious plan between his wife and mother-in-law), I would call him over to show him something.  Once he was on my deck, everyone would jump out and say “Surprise.”  This plan worked perfectly.

The second part of the plan was that when we bring out the birthday cake, we would sing “Happy Birthday” to both birthday boys.  The cake had both names on it.  Thus, we had the second birthday surprise.  Again, the plan worked perfectly.

We had appetizers, lasagna, salad, garlic bread, birthday cake and lots and lots of wine.  Not only was the first birthday boy surprised, but neither of them expected the second surprise.  They both received birthday cards and gifts and our neighbor that plays guitar played as we all sang songs.  We had a fire in the chiminea.  We ended up with about 12 people at the party.  It was an absolutely perfect evening.

Before I forget, I still have the box for non-perishable food for the homeless shelters.  If you are in the area, drop off some non-perishables.  The food drive is going on to December.

All cell phone holders in our Etsy store are half price ($5.00), so stop by www.cajunstitchery.etsy.com and get some cute cell phone holders as gifts for Christmas.

CHRISTMAS is around the corner.  Get that Christmas shopping done now and enjoy the holidays.

If you are not a subscriber and would like to receive Cajun Corner weekly, please email cajunstitchery@yahoo.com and let me know to put you on our email list. 

===============================================================

Thank you Marshall Larrivere for the following:

Father Murphy walks into a bar on Bourbon Street,

and asks the first man he meets, “Do you want to go to heaven?”

The man said, “I do, Father.”

The priest said, “Then stand over there against

the wall.”

Then the priest asked the second man, “Do you want

to go to heaven?”

“Certainly, Father,” the man replied.

“Then stand over there against the wall,” said the

priest.

Then Father Murphy walked up to Thibodaux and

asked, “Do you want to go to heaven?”

Thibodaux said, “No, I don't Father.”

The priest said, “I don't believe this. You mean

to tell me that when you die you don't want to go to heaven?”

Thibodaux said, “Oh, when I die, yes. I thought

you were getting a bunch together to go right now.”

=================================================================

C’est tout, mes amis

Peggy Henshall

Cajun Stitchery

(850) 261-2462

cajunstitchery@yahoo.com

P.S.  You are always welcome to stop by and look at all of the catalogs and pass some time with me, cher.

Here Comes The Holidays

It's another wonderful Wednesday.  The weather has been so cool that yesterday I had to close the windows and put on my warm, fuzzy socks.  This morning the windows are closed because George is cleaning the windows and screens outside.  Since this cool weather has appeared, I cannot keep the man indoors. 

I have to renew my driver's license this month and all of a sudden the Dept. of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles wants all kinds of original or certified documents, including birth certificate, social security card, marriage certificate, plus 2 documents showing your residential address.  Good gosh!  I guess they are checking for aliens.  Hope I still have this stuff.  We used to have to bring 2 pieces of mail sent to you at your address and we always brought a couple of bills.  Nowadays our bills are paid online and we do not receive paper billing.  I think I'll bring the mail that the Dept. of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles sent me in the mail. 

I also have to pay for and get my new vehicle registration and tag.  The price on this bill is almost the value of the car.  Next month we get to pay property taxes.  Oh joy!  I know the economy is down but I wonder if the governments of the people, by the people, and for the people realize that the people are drained.  Shouldn't they go to all of those banks and big businesses that they bailed out and get money from those deep pockets?

Enough of my rantings and ravings.  Have you ever noticed that when it is September, it feels like Christmas is far away, but when it turns into October, all of a sudden Christmas is upon us and we need to get things done?  Last week was September, we were preparing for the festival and Christmas seemed so far away.  We are probably more aware than most about the seasons because the business requires us to stay aware of holidays and such.  This one week has brought on the realization of just how close we are to halloween, Veterans Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years.  Oh, and don't forget the elections in November -- just a month away.  In fact, I believe you can start voting early this week.

Ever since we started selling napkins, I've wanted to have a beautiful table setting for every season/holiday.  Last year I finally embroidered some nice napkins and a runner for us for Christmas -- in January.  Now I'm working on Halloween.  Yesterday, I made 8 napkins for Halloween.  I had some orange print broadcloth purchased sometime ago when it was on sale.  Perfect!  I re-digitized part of the little witch that was embroidered on one of our tea towels (and sold this past weekend) and embroidered her on each of the napkins.  The edges are serged.  They look stiff now because they still have the sizing in them, but once washed, they will be very soft.  All of my personal napkins are made from broadcloth.  It's just my preference, but I like those the best.  Our Christmas napkins are the store bought, hotel quality napkins that we sell.  Did you know that there are different sized napkins for different occasions?  A dinner napkins should be 20" square.  A cocktail napkin should be 10" square.  I believe a lunch napkin is about 15" square.

Napkins are easy to make.  I cut 20" squares of broadcloth and serge the edges.  Any nice hem would work.  Weave the serger tails into the serged hem and voila!  You have a dinner napkin.  Use different prints and even different fabrics to achieve a new look for every occasion.  Embellish with lace or stitching for something unique and beautiful.  One of our wholesale stores sells napkins made from organza, poplin and satin, as well as cotton, broadcloth and polyesther.  Experiment.  Most of all, enjoy the process.

Of course, if you don't want to make your own napkins, call me.  We love making napkins at Cajun Stitchery.  Either way, please, please, please stop using paper napkins.

Halloween napkins are done.  Now I'm designing a Halloween runner for the table.  I have a piece of nice, black satin that I would like to use.  Maybe I'll trim it in the orange print fabric.  I'm not sure yet.  I wanted to have the little witch design on either end of the runner with a larger haunted house design embroidered in the center.  The haunted house design that I had in mind turned out to be about the same size as the witch and it just didn't excite me.  I have a design that I plan to stitch out with pumpkins and candy corn that I think will end up being the center for the runner.  The colors are much lighter and brighter (oranges, yellows, and white) and will contrast better with the black satin than a dark haunted house.  The little witch on either end will either have her black attire changed to orange or she will be appliqued onto the orange print fabric.  A black witch on black satin isn't going to stand out very well.

Yesterday, I also did another project for us.  I embroidered a couple more of our own pillowcases.  The design is two tigers.  I did the first one in an orange-gold color and the second in black.  They really stitched out well and we are very pleased with them.  This design would look nice on just about any solid color.  The size is about 5 or 6" wide, so, it's a good size design.

We have lots of projects coming up and make sure you check back for Christmas gifts and decorations.

C'est toute, mes amis.